Liftgate (glass) will not open

[loisengleny]

Ok, this is so frustrating to me. I have a 2000 chevy blazer and the lift gate (glass that lifts up) will not open for me. It was just working yesterday and now all you hear when you push the buttons (both inside and out) to open the glass is a motor sound and nothing happens. I have read so many different posts that I am confused as to what to do. There just has to be a way to get it open...some how manually. Please help...any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ZL1power69]

Welcome to the site. This has been covered many times. Basically the plastic piece that connects the electric actuator to the linkage for the hatch release breaks and the glass will not open. You can get it open from the inside. Read here for more info.

[loisengleny]

I really do appreciate you responding so quickly for I am sitting here refreshing over and over until I get a hit...lol I must ask though, it says to keep from destroying the panel I can pull back the carpet and there will be a hole in the bottom that I can manually release the lever for the liftgate. Is there something I m suppose to turn, grab, push, pull, what? I am sorry I sound so helpless but I am so dumb when it comes to vehicles...I just moved from FL to CA and left a phenomenal mechanic behind...now it is on me to figure things out to prevent the too much money problem....thanks again!

[Scrapper]

yes ther should be on drivers side and you pull that and should open..

[loisengleny]

You do mean I will find the hole on the drivers side behind the carpet on the hatch panel correct. Then inside of the hole should be something that I pull and it should open...correct?

[ZL1power69]

Originally Posted by loisengleny

I really do appreciate you responding so quickly for I am sitting here refreshing over and over until I get a hit...lol I must ask though, it says to keep from destroying the panel I can pull back the carpet and there will be a hole in the bottom that I can manually release the lever for the liftgate. Is there something I m suppose to turn, grab, push, pull, what? I am sorry I sound so helpless but I am so dumb when it comes to vehicles...I just moved from FL to CA and left a phenomenal mechanic behind...now it is on me to figure things out to prevent the too much money problem....thanks again!

You have to play around with the linkage to get it to open. I believe that you can pull on part of the linkage to release the glass. If your interior panel has all the screw holding it in in place, you will have to remove the carpet insert. I was lucky that the two on the side of the panel were missing and I could remove the panel from inside .

[loisengleny]

I am going to try...I will be back to let you know how things go. Thanks again!

[loisengleny]

Ok, I pulled the carpet back and there is no holes...while pulling the carpet back part of the panel came loose so I was able to see a bit behind it. I am really confused now for I know not what to look for...please help!

[ZL1power69]

You should see the electric actuator motor (small black box). Most likely there is a piece of metal linkage hanging close to it. Follow that back to the latch and you shoul be able to figure out how it works. I was messing with mine, pushing and pulling different ways and it popped open. I wish i took pictures.

[loisengleny]

OK, I am going to look for it...I will return!!!!

[loisengleny]

I just want to say thank you so much for assisting me through this. We fixed it...it was the plastic piece that was said to be a common problem with these kinds of trucks. How we ended up doing it is taking out the screws to the handle that releases the lower hatch allowing the top of the panel to pull back far enough to see inside. Looking inside we played around with a screw driver at things that looked like levers...eventually we found it. Once the glass liftgate opened it was on from there. We completely removed the lower hatch panel and the metal covering (which had about 12 bolts). Inside we were able to see the broken piece. We connected the two pieces back together with a paperclip (silly I know but very strong and worked). Put everything back together and it is now back to normal. The only thing that messed up was the carpet because we never needed to pull that off at anytime. But I must say, it doesn't look that bad...and it is fixed!!!! Thanks soooooo much!

[ZL1power69]

Glad you figured it out. Hope that fix works out for you. I wound up getting an updated actuator from gm since that plastic piece is now discontinued.